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The classic ArchieÂ comic book serieswill shortly be introducing its first gay character, according to cartoonist Dan Parent. The openly gay character, Kevin Keller, will be featured in the upcoming issue Isn’t It Bromantic?

“In the last year or two, we’ve been introducing a lot of new characters: Diverse characters, characters with different ethnicities,” Archie comics cartoonist Dan Parent said, according to Newsarama.com. “With trying to be diverse, we wanted to have everybody at the table. We knew at some point we wanted to introduce a gay character, and when I came up with the story idea, we felt it worked in context with this story.”Â

Source: Archie Comics Publications

In the storyline, Kevin Keller’s handsome face gets the attention of man-hungry Veronica, who doesn’t know he’s gay. The other characters are amused by Veronica’s attempts in trying to land the guy.

“They just like watching Veronica making a fool of herself, trying to get this guy to like her,” Parent said. “At the beginning of the book, Kevin tells Jughead first that he’s gay. And Kevin feels kind of bad and wants to tell Veronica why he’s not interested. But Jughead keeps saying, ‘No, you should wait to tell her,’ because he’s enjoying watching Veronica’s antics.”

“The story is very much in the true context of our Archie stories,” Plant said. “It’s Veronica being Veronica. The fact that there’s a gay character in the story isn’t a big deal to the characters. We didn’t do something with turmoil. The guy just happens to be gay, and the characters accept it, and that’s it.”